The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-02-24

| 4HC seas cIIuCh Luc sup HChfhE 90
she rounded to. 1 feared that she
would have too much headsail to lie
close, for the foresail and foretop-sail
were in ribbins they might show
enough roaring canvas when coupled
with the foretop-mast staysail to make
her pay off, we having no aftersaii set
to counterbalance the effect of them.
However, she lay steady, that is, as
the compass goes. but rolled fearfully,
wallowing deep like ship half full of
water, and shipped such tremendous
seas that / constantly expected to hear
the crash of the galley stove in.
l now shaded my eyes and looked
astern. The horizon was dull blank;
nothing was in sight but the rugged
line of water and the nearer, deep,
dark, wider shadow of the leaden pour
ing clouds.
CHAPTER XXI
In bringing the ship close to the
wind IN this terrible gale, without
springing spar, We had done what l
never should have believed practicable
to four men. taking into consideration
the size of the ship and the prodigious
force of the wind; and when looked
aloft and considered that only few
hours before, so to speak, the ship was
carrying all the sail that could be put
upon her, and that three men had
! stripped her of it and put her under q
close-reefed maintop-sail fitto encoun-
ter 4 raging hurricane, could not
help thinking that we had right to
feel proud of our endurance AMI spirit.
| There was no difficulty now in hold
ing the wheel, and, had no worse sea
than was now running been promised us,
the helm might have been laShed and
the vessel lain as comfortably as a
smack with her ioresail over to wind
ward.
The torn sails were making hideous
noise on the yards forward, and as
there was no earthly reason why this
clamor should be suffered to last, l
called to Cornish to get his knife ready
and help me to cut the canvas away
from the jack-stays. We hauled the
braces taut to steady the yards. and
then went aloft, and in ten minutes
| severed the fragments of the foresail
and topsail, and they blew up into the
air like paper, and were carried nearly
half mile before they tell into the sea.
The wind was killing up aloft, and l
was heartily glad 10 get on deck again,
not only to escape the wind, but on
account of the foretop-mast and top-gal-
lant-mast, both of which had been
heavily tried, and now rocked heavily
as the ship rolled, and threatened TO
come down with the weight of the
yards upon them.
But neither Cornish nor l had
strength enough in us to stay the
masts more securely; our journey
aloft and our sojourn on the yards,
and our fight with the wind to main
tain our hold. had pretty well done for
us; and in Cornish took notice ofthat
| air of lassitude and dull Indifference
which creeps upon shipwrecked men
when worn out with their struggles,
and which resembles, in its way, the
stupor which falls upon persons who
are perishing of cold.
1t was fair, however, since l had
some rest, that l should now take a
spell at the wheel, and l therefore told
Cornish to 90 to the cabin lately occu-
pied by Stevens, the ships carpenter.
and turn in, and then crawled aft to
the poop and desired the boatswain to
go below and rest himself, and order
I she steward, who had not done one
tenth of the work we had performed,
to stand by ready to come on deck if
should call to him.
| held my post at the wheel. being
anxious that the boatSwain and Cornish
should recruit their strength by sleep,
for if one or the other of them broke
down, then, indeed, our case would be
deplorable.
The force of the wind was stupendous,
and yet the brave maintop-sail stood
it; but not an hour had passed since
the two men went below when a mon
ster wave took the ship on the star
board bow and threw her up, rolling
at the same time an immense body of
water onto the decks; her stern, where
l was crouched, sunk in the hollow
level with the sea, then, as the levia-
than wave rolled under her counter,
the ships bows fell into a prodigious
trough with q sickening, whirling
swoop. Ere she could recover, another
great sea rolled upon her. buryinC her
forecastle, and rushing with the fury
of cataract along the main-deck.
Another wave like that and our fate
was sealed.
But happily these were exceptional
seas; smaller waves succeeded, and the
struggling, straining ship showed her.
self alive still.
Alive, but MANNED. That tremen-
dous swoop had carried away the jib-
boom and the foretop-gallant mast
the one close against the bowsprit
head, the other few inches above the
top-gallant yard. The mast, with the
royal-yard upon it, hung all in heap
against the fore-top mast, bat fortunate
ly kept steady, owing to the yard-arm
having damned itself into the fore-top
mast rigging. The jib-boom was clean
gone adrift, and was washing away to
leeward.
This was no formidable accident.
though it gave the ship a wrecked and
broken look. should have been we'll
pleased to see all three top-gallant
masts go over the side, for the weight
of the yards, swaying to and fro at
great angles, was too much for the
lower-masts, and not only strained the
decks, but the planking to which the
| chain plates were bolted.
My great anxiety now was for the
foretop-mast, which was sustaining the
weight of the broken mast and yard, in
addition to the top-gallant yard. still
standing, and the heavy pulling of the
foretop-mast staysail.
Dreading the consequences that
might follow the loss of this sail, l
called to the steward at the top of my
voice, and on his thrusting his head up